July 10, 2014

In England in the late 1800’s my Father, Harold Hunt was born, one of nine children on a farm in the Midlands. His Mother was a Roman Catholic and very devout from all reports. His Father was Anglican and not much inclined to support the Church. But Dad did remember and share that as each Child was born, it was Baptised alternately as a Roman Catholic and an Anglican, with full co-operation of the two Priests. Dad was shunted into the R.C. lane and his Mother gave him a very good and effective grounding in her Faith which proved to be his Moral, Spiritual and lively way of life long after he left England and came to Canada. He also remembered with great clarity a day when the two Priests, Roman Catholic and Anglican pitched hay in the hayfield together with his Father, with great joy and fellowship. That was Ecumenicity of the most practical kind and greatly helped with the bringing up of the Family. It has, even to this day resulted in firm links between both sides of the Hunt family on both sides of the Atlantic through cousins who have kept in close touch, both intercountry visits, mail and now the Internet. Dad came to Canada at the age of 18 in pursuit of a life in Agriculture, as did somer of his siblings. He early began to plan a life as a Cattle Rancher, sometimes with the partnership of three brothers and two sisters. He met, and later married my Mother, Florence Foreman on February 3rd, 1913, in a little Anglican Church in Alberta, a Church which eventually became the first Church in which I Ministered when I was Ordained in 1957. I was the middle child of five, one sister and four boys. We all spent most of our lives as Ranchers,except for me as God called me to the Ministry in the middle fifties. The only Grandparent I ever had was my Mother’s Father, William, the other three having passed away in England before I was born. He was born in England and immigrated to Port Carling, Ontario, Canada where my Mother was born, losing her Mother at Childbirth. She had four brothers. He married again but that union also ended with the loss of her Stepmother. They then moved, with three of her brothers to Alberta. The three brothers all served with the Canadian Army in Europe and in spite of being in the front lines at Amiens, Paschendale and Vimy Ridge, all returned to Canada to recover their health and live long and productive lives. On arrival in Alberta, Grampa Foreman settled at a spot on the map to start a farm, with my Mother who was just nine years of age. He opened a small General Store and Post Office on a country road on their little farm. The nearest town was 25 miles away and that was where he bought the stock for the store and collected the mail. While he was away, my Mother ran the store and post office. She would be alone and in charge for two days each time he was away. She had close and very helpful neighbours, a Scottish family and it was the Lady of that famlly, Janet Campbell, who was my Mother’s Midwife at my brth in 1920. It was also in that little store that my Mother and Father met and eventually were married in Church in Stettler Alberta. There was no R.C. Church for many miles around, so Dad attended services regularly with Mother and the family down the years. The night Dad died in Hospital, he was very weak, asked us all what our plans were for the future, and said, “When you go home, I am just going to go to sleep and when I wake up, I will be Home.” Then he gestered and said, “It is just there” and in joyfull tones he described heaven to us. The Doctor phoned just at midnight. Dad had gone home.